Lakewood Sees Uptick in COVID Cases

In recent weeks, Lakewood has not escaped a steady rise in COVID cases that other area Jewish communities have seen.

In late March and early April, the town was hit hard by the virus resulting in thousands of infections and over 70 deaths. In the months since then, COVID seemed to largely recede from Lakewood with clinics and local physicians seeing an average of zero to three cases per week with mild to moderate symptoms.

Yet, over the past two weeks, numbers have steadily climbed. Two weeks ago, 17 positive cases were reported and last week, 30. As of Wednesday of this week, 26 positive tests had been reported, with significantly more unconfirmed cases suspected in the community. The severity of symptoms has largely remained low with patients experiencing mild to moderate cases. The cause of why cases have so far been largely less severe than during the initial outbreak is unknown.

Those involved in testing reported that the vast majority of positive cases were linked either to large events or travel to hot spot states, especially Florida.

Dr. Dovid Friedman, CEO of the CHEMED health center, urged vigilance in light of the recent trend.

“It is a concern that numbers have gone up,” he told Hamodia. “Fortunately we are seeing minimal to moderate disease, but as cases increase so does concern that we will end up with patients who present more severe cases. We also do not want to see the community negatively impacted in any way.”